Project acronym: NOBALwheat
Implementation time: 01.01.2021- 31.12.2023
Project level: International project
Program: Baltic Research Programme 
Project identification No S-BMT-21-3 (LT08-2-LMT-K-01-032)

Project partners: 
Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry (LAMMC), LT - Project principal investigator. Project leader Dr. Gintaras Brazauskas
Estonian Crop Research Institute (ECRI), EE
Tartu University (TU), EE
Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), NO
Institute of Agricultural Resources and Economics (AREI), LV 

Project leader in AREI: Dr.agr. Māra Bleidere (mara.bleidere[at]arei.lv)
Source of funding: EEA and Norway Grants
Project total budget: EUR 997 953 

The main objectives of the project: 
1. To establish a field trial at 4 locations of 300 genotypes of spring wheat originating from Baltic States and Norway. Initial seed multiplication is ongoing and will be ready before the start of the project. 
2. To identify genotypes that exhibit high potential of adaptation to changing climate to be introduced into breeding programs of the Nordic-Baltic region. 
3. To set up and test low-cost high-throughput plant phenotyping platforms to facilitate wheat breeding in the Baltic countries. 
4. To identify key genetic loci for spring wheat improvement: disease resistance, nitrogen and water use efficiency, yield potential. 
5. To establish a training population as foundation for genomic selection implementation into spring wheat breeding programs. 
6. To provide multilateral knowledge and technology transfer between the partnering countries both in research as well as in training future researchers and breeders.